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Race Result

Racer: Matt Taylor
Race: Lums Pond Triathlon
Date: Sunday, August 15, 2004
Location: Bear, DE
Race Type: Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group: Male 25 - 29
Time: 1:36:16
Overall Place: 106 / 267
Age Group Place: 7 / 16
Comment: Redeem Last Year



Race Report:



2003 Results
Swim: 19:47
Bike: 1:02:21
Run: 20:56
Overall: 1:47:09 15/18 Agegroup 151/276 overall

2004 Results
Swim: 16:20
Bike: 56:46
Run: 20:37
Overall: 1:36:16

I had two main goals for Lums Pond this year. The first was to use this as a training race and go all out from beginning to end. If I did not collapse on the course, I wanted to feel like I was going to collapse across the line. My second goal was to redeem myself from last year. I had gotten off track on an already long swim, and was demoralized on the bike as I was constantly passed.

Saturday Afternoon

After watching the news and the internet the race was still on regardless of Hurricane Charley plowing through South Carolina. My wife just shook her head at me as I pulled out of the drive way. I picked up Steve, who brought along the tri-doppler 9000 system, (NOAA Hurrican printouts) and we headed up to delaware. We checked into the race at 5 pm noted the very muddy transition area, drove the bike course as refresher, noted the sink holes in the road, and headed to our hotel. Dinner consisted of breakfast at Denny's, a new one for me which thankfully did not come back to haunt me. Of course it did fill my Denny's quota for the next few years.

Race Day

No Hurricane Charley. We woke at 5am, packed the car, hit Dunkin Donuts for coffee and bagels and headed out for the race. We saw Bill's H24TRI in the parking lot, so we knew one other RAT made it. Plus, if there had been a hurricane he was going to be our ticket out of there. I setup transition and headed out for a warm up run. Start time was 7:45.

Swim
The course is an 1/2 mile counter clockwise out, across, and in. Last Year during the across I swam into the middle of the course and vowed not to do that again. The race started and I was positioned in the middle towards the front. I wanted to go hard to the first turn buoy and then settle in. Because this is a short course and a tight out section, I was in the dishwasher the whole way. I was crawling over people and people were crawling over me as we fought for positions. At the first turn I was hoping to get some relief from the commotion. No such luck. The good news was I was swimming in the thick of it, something that does not commonly happen for me. The bad news was I was taking a foot or arm to the chest, stomach, head, way to often. Over half way through the swim I settled in with four others. I kept one person to my inside to ensure that I stayed on course. I found the feet of another swimmer, and we cruised into the beach. I felt great coming out of the water in a great time of 16:20. T1 went very smoothly, so smoothly, I was convinced I forgot something, and the duct tape over the cleats worked pefectly in the mud. I found out later that Steave was right behind me running into T1 and beat me coming out. But he did NOT pass me in the water...WOOO HOOO (Homer Simpson style)!!!

Bike
I have not had as much time on the bike as I would have liked recently, so going all out was either going to fry my legs, or prove that I was not as bad off as I thought. The refs had stated that they would be watching for draft violations, which is difficult in some areas of this course because it gets tight. I had no issues on the bike, followed my fueling plan of accelerade and a 1/2 water 1/2 hammer gel flask. I felt strong and fast the whole ride and never dropped below 20 mph. And best of all, I did not hear disc wheels every 30 seconds (see last year's report). I pulled into T2 with a time of 56:46. I slipped on my shoes, grabbed my fuel belt and was out in 1 minute. Another smooth transition.

Run
I had an amazing 5K last year and was hoping to do the same. I felt a little tight in the first mile, but began to loosen up. The run course followed the same access road as last year so I knew where my check points would be. As I am running through field at the start of the run, I experienced something I never have before. Steve Smith was entering the field to finish his run. I saw Steve on the course...WOOO HOOO!!!! Now I knew I was having a good race, and I was determined to have a strong run. The run seemed a little bit longer this year because the turn around was not at the same point as I had remembered. Bill later confirmed this idea with a similar comment. At the 2 mile mark I passed a few guys in my age group and picked up the pace. Normally I leave the last 1/2 mile or less to kick into what is left of high gear. But the point of this race was to go all out. With one mile to go I started to push it. It paid off, the two age groupers who were behind me could not hang on, and I continued to pass other racers. I crossed the finish line with a 5K time of 20:37 a 6:40 avg mile, and a final time of 1:36:16.

Post Race

This race was one big PR for me. Every time was faster than last year, and I felt strong through out the entire race. I also felt that I had fired on every cylinder and did not crack. Hopefully a good sign of things to come. After checking the results I discoverd I missed 5th place by less than a minute, and it was the bike where I had lost the time. Congrats to Bill for second place in the OFB category, and with a injured calf he still beat me by about 2 minutes. And of course to Steve who collectedd cash and prizes for winning the whole show. Steve also had a big AH-HA half way through inhaling our post race meal that he had PR'ed his 5K. It was great to meet Cathy another RAT, and congrats on taking home some hardware.